Birthday #3

Ian's third year came to a close with a whirlwind of fun! Beautiful weather on Friday and Saturday allowed us to spend time outdoors, including a picnic lunch on Saturday at a nearby playground. Sunday was spent at a super-fun zoo birthday party with tons of family and fascinating animals. And today was the best day of all: his birthday!

We woke him up in standard birthday fashion by flipping on the light and singing "Happy Birthday" (Maybe Eric will post the video sometime soon...hint, hint, Babe!), followed by giving him our present to him: the complete compilation of the original Thomas stories written by Rev. Awdry. He was so enthralled with the big, hardback book full of Thomas pictures, that he didn't want to leave his bed, even for chocolate-chip pancakes! We finally got him out, though, and we enjoyed a nice breakfast together. The morning was spent doing our weekly grocery shopping, and then we picked up Eric from school to go have lunch together at Chick-fil-a, one of Ian's favorite places to go. He really loves it there now, since they gave him both an orange balloon and a stuffed cow for his birthday! Score! Plus, we got to share a chocolate milkshake, which he ordered all by himself. Does it get any better than that?

Apparently, it does. After lunch, we all went to Toys'R'Us, where Ian was allowed to pick out one new engine of his choice. Going in there, he had already decided which engine he wanted: Toby the Tram Engine. But when we got to the Thomas section, they had a table set up with some tracks and engines, complete with a Harold the Helicopter. Well, an engine just wouldn't do after seeing cool Harold! So that's what Ian got, and I don't think he's regretted it a bit. As soon as we got home, Harold was released from his plastic prison and was immediately set to rescuing a disadvantaged Percy, who had apparently been derailed and needed assistance to get back on the track (a similar thing happens to Thomas in one of Ian's favorite books). Ian spent pretty much the rest of the day playing with his new engines and expansion tracks that he'd gotten from various family members. His track collection is quite diverse now, allowing for even more creative playing time!

So I think his third birthday was a good one, and it seemed like he thought he was in heaven. Isn't that what a good birthday should be?